Business Profile- Personal Touch Gourmet
Hermosa Beach resident Mary Ellen Rae has created a business for people who desire to cook well, but never felt comfortable learning in a large class or outside of their own kitchen.
Rae’s Personal Touch Gourmet offers people the chance to learn how to make countless recipes in the privacy of their own home through one-on-one teaching.
She started Personal Touch Gourmet in 2002, but was then asked to become the recipe tester for the Los Angeles Times. She did that for four years, but started to miss teaching people how to cook. So, she started her business back up in 2007 and has since been boosting people’s culinary skills and their confidence in the kitchen.
What makes Rae’s business unique is that she comes to people’s homes and teaches them how to make meals that they want, not meals she wants. She said most available cooking classes that are done in a studio or school require the students to make what the teacher chooses. But with Personal Touch Gourmet, the clients choose what kind of meals they want and Rae teaches them how from start to finish beginning with the grocery list and ending with the presentation.
Mary Ellen Rae of Personal Touch Gourmet.
She said it’s very important for people to learn how to cook in their own kitchen because they’re more comfortable and are more likely to re-create the meal without complications.
“After I leave they’re able to replicate what I did,” Rae said. “That’s the benefit.”
Rae, who graduated with honors from the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, said she starts each class by discussing with her client what they’re wanting to learn, what kind of food they like and then arrives at their home with all the ingredients. The client’s utensils and appliances are used, but Rae will provide anything the person does not have.
She starts sessions by talking about food safety, teaches some knife skills, discusses where to find ingredients, provides a demonstration, and then has the client start helping with the preparation and cooking of the chosen meal.
Candace Poindexter recently hired Rae to teach her how to cook and she learned many skills that now make cooking enjoyable instead of it feeling like a chore.
“I wanted to learn some techniques and recipes I could use,” Poindexter said. “It was fantastic. She comes with the food and we made seafood, chicken, chocolate strawberries and I got to do it so I could do it by myself.”
